I was told that I can hook up a computer camera direct to the monitor with out using a computer. Is this true? I want to put a camera outside my door & leave it on to monitor my front door at all times. Do I need to hook it up to my computer or can I have live feed into a monitor or how can I do this easily. Thanks Thomas

An everyday sort of USB based webcam cannot be directly connected to a traditional-style computer monitor. While some types of cameras may offer alternate video output lines, they still cannot connect to the VGA or DVI type of connection used by modern PC monitors.

However - A security camera setup like this should not be very expensive. A local alarm/security company can probably give you a very competitve quote.

No, I don't believe that's possible. Now I would buy an inexpensive video camera (not with recording capability - there's no need for that) and it doesn't need any auto-zoom or much else! A basic security style camera is what you're looking for - and it's your choice as to a b/w or color system. Same thing applies to a cheap line-in-only monitor … no need to pay for a channel-tuner here. By doing this, you can run a single coax cable from the camera to the monitor. And you won't be locked into where you place the monitor. Have you considered where you'll get power for the camera and how you'll run the cable from this camera to the monitor? That can be a little tricky.
Hope this helps and I'll check back for updates … I can give you some sites for equipment purchases if you like.
David
(35 yrs. Audio/video engineering)